


Caramel Mochas, Flirting, and First Dates

by orphan_account



Series: First Impressions And Second Thoughts [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Coffeeshop AU, First Meetings, M/M, references to cool movies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 03:44:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5319170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where Bucky Barnes was born in Brookln, 1978, and Steve Rogers grew up sickly and alone, barely surviving until the serum, things happen so fast.<br/>One of Steve's major faults is that he gets way too invested in people. Way too fast, as it turns out, like what happened with Peggy.<br/>Natasha just happens to drag Steve out of the tower to her favourite coffeeshop on Bucky's shift, and Steve finds out that first impressions can count for a lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caramel Mochas, Flirting, and First Dates

The hole in the wall coffeeshop that Steve was in, 'Howling Roasts' Nat had said, was busy, with people coming and going regularly, yet somehow still reasonably quiet. There were a couple of people at tables already, mostly studying undergrads. They had books spilled all over the table with brightly coloured post-it notes and slips of paper everywhere. They seemed anxious, most likely due to an upcoming exam. Steve was anxious too. He hadn’t been out of the tower past 7 am in a while, and it was like 2 pm now. He basically got mobbed by people asking for his autograph whenever he wasn’t running.

  
"I don't know why I ever thought that coming here was a good idea. I thought you said, and I quote, that I'd meet someone to 'finally get your lonely ass outside every once in awhile'? I could be doing something useful, like training at the tower." Steve muttered to Nat, barely under his breath.  
"I did say that, so shut up and trust me for once. Now, what do you want?" Natasha teased.  
"Uh, maybe a plain coffee? Do they have that here?"  
"Ok. Ok. Go grab us a table, stay in here though, I'm going to get us something to drink. Something more creative than straight black coffee."

The blond smiled at Nat's mothering. In more ways than one, the redhead was the reason that Steve was here, still alive. She has rescued his ass more times than he could count, gave him support and comfort when he needed it, and gave him a social life. Well, it wasn't as much of a social life as it was her practically dragging Steve out of his floor in the Avengers tower once a fortnight. As Steve wandered around the shop, looking for a table for two, he stopped a couple of time to casually glance at the people with books sprawled all over their tables.

  
"Holy shit. How do people cope with this amount of work? It's ridiculous, and in this weather? People should be outside in the sunshine, not cooped up inside." Steve murmured under his breath. After about ten minutes, -maybe twenty? Steve was terrible at estimating-, Steve went to check on where Nat was. Even at peak hour, which it wasn’t, the line shouldn’t have been that long. He wasn’t worried, Nat could take care of herself, but it was nice to know that she was safe. Anyone who tried to take her on would probably come off worse for that particular fight, Steve thought.

Wandering over to the counter, Steve glanced around. The counter was empty apart from a damn hot barista, and Steve caught himself staring quite a few times. He tried to focus on other things, like the old army posters on the wall, or actually looking for Nat, but his eyes kept straying to that guy. More than once the guy glanced in his direction as well, looking him up and down, almost sizing him up. Steve really, really liked his face. With those cheekbones, and that stubble. Damn. And his eyes. They were pale, ice grey, but with a kind of determination and fire that made you shiver. They were also staring right at him, challenging and fierce. Steve did a double take, because the guy was almost bristling. As though he was about to fight someone. Crap. This was awkward. Steve opened his mouth to say something, but before he could start-

“I know what you’re thinking, punk. You think a one armed guy can’t-”  
“Well, that’d be awkward, because I was thinking about how cute you are.” Steve cut him off. It may have been rude but he didn’t want the hot guy getting a wrong first impression of him. Wait a second - Frick. Oh god. Did he just say that? Crap. The barista was talking again. Damn, he had a nice voice.  
“Wow, talk about forward, much? I feel like you didn’t think before saying that. If it makes you feel better, you’re pretty damn hot too. So, you don’t care ’bout the arm? That’s usually the first thing people comment on.”  
“Thanks… I didn’t notice your arms, mostly your face...” Steve trailed off. He pulled out his phone from his jacket pocket, blushing furiously.  
“What, you gonna ask for my number now?” The brunet flirted.  
“Actually, I was gonna text my friend Nat, who ditched me, but now that you mention it…I think I plan on it.” Steve muttered.  
“Nat? I know a Nat as well. About that number though…”  
“Can I at least get your name first? Or buy you some coffee?”  
“James Buchanan Barnes, but my friends call me Bucky. Or, y’know, more than friends.”  
“Here’s hoping I can call you that. More than friends.” Somehow Steve managed to say that with a straight face.  
“What happened to coffee dates? And names!” Bucky protested; albeit weakly. And at that, Steve burst out laughing.  
“Oh, right. Sorry; I’m just so used to people knowing my name, this is new. I’m Steven Grant Rogers, but you can call me Steve.”  
“Steve Rogers. As in Captain America Steve Rogers?” - Steve nodded, blushing again - “Damn. I’m flirting with goddamn Captain fucking America. I thought you looked kinda familiar.”  
“So how about that coffee date?” Steve rubbed the back of his head nervously.  
“Yeah. You free Saturday afternoon? My shift here finishes at one thirty on weekends…”  
“As long as no, erm, I dunno, experimental, giant, flying reindeer comes up or something, I’ll hopefully be able to make it. Should I meet you here at quarter to two?”  
“Sounds good - great, actually! Does the giant flying mammals thingy happen often?” Bucky asked with a laugh.  
“Depends on the month really - December’s always popular for that kind of thing.” Steve was grinning, slightly manically if he was being honest.  
“I feel like you get that a lot - experiments gone wrong, I mean”  
“Well, we do currently have a bunch of robotic kittens around the tower; they ‘accidentally’ escaped from Tony’s lab. We haven’t bothered to round them up yet. They’re surprisingly cuddly, though. We’re also surprisingly lazy. Anyway, am I allowed to have your number please? Now that we’ve got names and coffee dates?” Steve looked up from under his eyelashes to make eye contact with Bucky, puppy dog style. Nat had said it was a type of flirting, so he went for it. It seemed to work, though.  
“Umm… damn, that’s… uhh…” - Bucky paused to try to compose himself - “Sure. ”  
They exchanged numbers and Steve sent Bucky a winking smiley first, before winking at him in real life.  
“Hey, my shift’s about to finish, maybe if you’re not doing anything after this, and if you want to, we could walk around Central Park, we’re only 5 minutes away…”  
“Sure.” Steve smiled at Bucky’s bashfulness, all his cockiness had gone.  
“Cool, let me just put away this uniform and grab my stuff…” Bucky seemed relieved.  
Steve re-checked his phone, just in case Nat had texted him within the 10 minutes that he had been talking to Buck, and was surprised to see a couple of texts.

 _Hey Steve_  
_you met james yet?_  
_he’s the cute barista on his shift now_  
_i thought you two would look good together_  
_u 2 met yet_  
  
_who?_  
_I don't know who James is, only Bucky’s working at the moment_  
  
_oh right. that ridiculous nickname._  
_james ‘bucky’ barnes_  
_i still refuse to call him by that name_  
  
_Oh yeah, right_  
_Yea we met (you probably got that by now though)_  
_wait, where are you?_  
  
_im at the tower_  
_i left so you’d go to find me and meet bucky_  
  
_you knew Buck would be working?_  
_you basically set me up. without telling me._  
_oh my god Nat._  
  
_basically. so, you two got a date yet?_  
  
_like you don't know. like you didn’t get tony to hack into the shop’s cameras the second you got back_  
  
_true, true. you know me too well._  
_wait, not the second i got back_  
_more like within the 5 minutes_  
_tony was dealing with the kittens,_  
_one had a bug_  
  
_is it alright? please don’t tell me it was Sarah_  
_or Winnifred_  
  
_Nah it was Howard_  
_Tony’s gotten FRIDAY to isolate the virus_  
_and flush it out_  
  
_thank god for FRIDAY_  
_i don’t know how Vision would have coped with that_  
_well if that’s all, i actually have a date_  
  
_so soon? true love is so cute_  
  
_say hi to james for me_  
_say it’s from Natalia_  
_he’ll know what that means_  
  
_ok… bye then_  
  
_;) cya_

“Yo, Buck, Natash- Natalia says hi… Apparently you’ll know what that means.” Steve called after him .  
“Natalia? Hmm, do I know her?… just kidding, I only know one Natalia. Natalia Romanova. She’s terrifying.” Bucky said as he walked back to the counter.  
“Romanova? That kinda seems familiar, but I can’t remember…” Steve raised an eyebrow.  
“Oh, right, she goes by Natasha Romanoff now, I think.”  
“Oh god, right. Did she meet you here, like thirty minutes ago?”  
“Umm, yeah actually.”  
“That sneaky little… she never got me my coffee. I’ll never forgive her”  
“Wait - she did put a coffee on the tab, she said I’d know who to give it to. Guess that’s you then? The caramel mochas, that’s what she ordered for you, that I make, are like Heaven in a paper cup.”  
“Yep, alright then. You’ve convinced me. I think I’ll find it in my heart to forgive and forget. So, you ready for that walk then? After you make us some coffee, of course.”  
Bucky ducked back behind the counter and puttered around for a couple of seconds before the whirring of a machine could be heard.  
“Give me half a minute, Steve - Anyway, I though patience was one of the virtues that Captain America embodied?”  
“Shut up” Steve said, playfully. “ and get me my coffee, Barnes. I’m interested to see what a ‘caramel mocha’ tastes like- you’ve made me curious.”  
“Well, I better live up to Captain Roger’s high standards, then. Alright, all done.” Bucky capped off two steaming cups of golden, creamy coffee, and handed one to Steve.  
“Oh my god, you were right. This is straight heaven.” Steve almost moaned when he took the first sip.  
“Unlike me!” Bucky winked as they left Howling Roasts.  
“What, heaven or straight?”  
“Both, I’m a gay back from Hell. Let’s just say that.”  
“Well, can you guess which one I’m definitely not?”  
“I’m gonna go with… you not being straight?” Bucky guessed as they started walking through Central Park.  
“50 points to Gryffindor - right again! I’m bi.”  
“Wait, what did I get right first time? And why didn’t I get points for that? How did you make that reference? Also, why am I in Gryffindor?” Bucky sounded indignant, but when Steve glanced at him, he was grinning.  
“Well, the first was that you were right about this being pure heaven” Steve finished off the dregs of his mocha and shot the paper cup into the trash bin. “You didn’t get points for that because you weren't answering a question. I’ve been reading the Harry Potter books to catch up on the whole ‘being-frozen-in-the-ice-for-nearly-seventy-years’ thing. I’m onto the Order Of The Phoenix now. It’s depressing. Lastly, what house do you think you’d be in then, if not Gryffindor? You’re not smart enough to be a Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff? Slytherin? Nah.” Steve jumped to dodge a mock punch from Bucky at the Ravenclaw comment.  
“Excuse me? I’m plenty smart.” Steve snorted. “At least I know not to anger an ex-military barista. And I like to think I’m loyal enough to be a Hufflepuff. Slytherin as well, though, I’m cunning enough - I’m great at planning revenge.”  
“Oh yeah? What’re you gonna do? Put the wrong syrup into my caramel mocha next time?” Steve sniffed. “You’d be a terrible revenge-planner. If that’s a thing.”

Both Steve and Bucky jumped a second later as a pink arrow with a heart shaped head impaled itself into the grass exactly halfway between them. The arrow even had pink streamers trailing from the end of it.  
“Oh my fucking god, Clint. Sorry ‘bout this, Bucky. Y’know Hawkeye, right? Well, looks looks like he decided to make this a party.” Grabbing his phone, he started to text Natasha. She was the only one that Clint listened to, but that was partly because they were friends and partly because everyone’s terrified of Nat.

 _Nat, get your boyfriend under control. He just crashed my date with Bucky._  
_He shot a pink valentines arrow at us_  
  
_ur no fun. but fine, i’ll tell him._  
_hes also not my boyfriend_  
  
_If you say so, nat_  
  
_i’m going to ignore that. Bucky probably_  
_wouldn’t like it if i killed his boyfriend._  
_Clint’s promised not to ‘spread romantic_  
_vibes by arrow’ anymore_  
_that was a direct quote btw_  
  
_thanks, nat. you’re a lifesaver_  
_or a date saver_  
_whatever works_  
  
_np, bro_  
  
_oh, also thanks for the caramel mocha. it tasted great_  
  
_like bucky does?_  
  
_oh my god nat. i haven't kissed him. yet. now, i have a date to get back to, so sushi_  
_shush*! sorry_  
_i don't like auto correct_  
  
_alright then captain bossy_  
  
_thanks, bye_

 

Steve pocketed his phone and looked up to find Bucky staring at him with clear grey eyes.  
“Are you ok there, Buck?” Steve asked, concerned.  
“Yeah. I just, never thought I’d get to meet ‘Captain America’ in the flesh, and now, here I am, on a date with him. It all hit me just then, nearly like that arrow did.” Bucky smiled ruefully at the pink arrow. “Wait, we are on a date, right?”  
“Hmm, yes. I think so. Close your eyes, I have an idea.” Steve took a few steps and picked a small bunch of pink and purple wild flowers and gently pulled the arrow out from the ground it had embedded itself in. Walking quickly over to a flax bush, he picked a strand and split it in half. Half jogging back to Bucky, he tied a couple of knots around the makeshift bouquet and murmured to Buck that he could open his eyes. Steve pressed the bunch into Bucky’s hand while staring into his steel grey eyes. Bucky looked away first, glancing at the flowers in his hand.

“Wow, I never knew that Captain America was such a romantic. You have a great sense of colours though, like which flowers go well together. These look really nice - oh look! There’s the arrow!” Bucky chuckled.  
They continued walking round the massive reservoir, pointing out things like cool wildflowers and interesting shapes in the charcoal grey storm clouds looming overhead, blown in from the northerly wind.  
“Oh, look at that one! It’s a cloud!”  
“Wow, Buck. Real original. Ooh, look! That duck’s shiny red - d’ya think it’s a duck though?”  
“Ha, that’s not a duck, Stevie! I bet it’s some foreign bird, like a Cinnamon Teal.”  
“Ok, since you don’t know that Cinnamon Teal's aren’t foreign, Buck” Steve chuckled “I’m going to assume you have no idea how to differentiate a duck from a flamingo, let alone a foreign bird.”

When the first fat raindrops started falling down, the pair walked underneath the green tree cover. Their footsteps were muffled by the bracken, dead leaves and moss carpeting the ground, and the silence was broken only by the pattering of the rain on leaves and the occasional bird call. Bucky was quietly humming, it sounded nice.

  
“Hey Buck, what’re you humming?” whispered Steve.  
“It’s called ‘I’ll Make A Man Out Of You’” Bucky whispered back.  
“Who sung it? What’s it about?”  
Keeping his voice low, Bucky answered, “Well, I don’t know who sung it, it’s from the Mulan soundtrack. It’s about a guy training men for the army. Have you seen the movie? Also, why are we whispering?”  
“It’s too quiet” Steve raised his voice to a normal speaking tone. “And I haven’t seen, Mulan, was it?”  
“How haven’t you seen Mulan yet? I’m shocked! You need to come to my place and we need to watch it, like, soon!” Bucky exclaimed.  
Passing through the copse of trees, the pair found themselves soaking withing seconds.  
“Ugh, I’m all cold and wet now!”  
“Poor, poor, Bucky. I don’t know how you ever survived all the snow days you’ve had, seeing as this is a comparatively good day, for winter.  
“Oh shush. Just ‘cause I don’t have a super soldier serum making impervious to cold and pain apparently, doesn’t mean I'm all weak and feeble.”  
“Alright! I surrender. Here, have my hoodie.” Steve passed his pale blue hoodie to Bucky, who wrapped it round him.  
“Wow, this is really fluffy! Ooh, there’s a star on it, like on your shield!” Bucky turned around, trying to look at the design on his back. “Where’d you get this from? I need one of these, like this one but not a shield on the back. A red star, maybe.”  
“Ha, you’ll have to very politely ask Pepper. She's got ‘the whole squad sorted’. Clint’s got a purple one with a black arrow one the back, Nat’s got a red one with the black widow sign in black, and so on… Everybody's also got their codename in caps on the back. Not very covert, but it's a soft hoodie. Hmm, what would you be? Something to do with winter, seeing as you seem to have an affinity with that particular season…”  
“Ooh, maybe like the Winter Sergeant? Or like Captain Winter?” Steve could tell that Bucky was excited, even though he tried to play it casual. The eagerness in his voice was nearly tangible.  
“Nah, those sound stupid. Plus, I should be the only captain!”  
“Oh, alright then genius. What do you suggest?”  
“How about… the Winter Soldier?”

_______________

After walking Bucky home, he called Pepper to bring in a few favours she owed him. He had a Christmas present to wrap.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first story, so I hope you like it!  
> 


End file.
